Method and System for Information Management

ABSTRACT

A system and method is described for managing litigation services, such as the designation of exhibits, deponents and other information for one or more cases. The method including the steps of receiving trial information and populating a database with the trial information. The method next includes the step of designating portions of the trial information for later use, followed by receiving confirmation of acceptance of the designated portions. Finally, the method includes the step of managing the designation and use of the trial information.

CROSS-REFERENCE

This application claims the priority of U.S. Provisional PatentApplication No. 61/093,652 filed on Sep. 2, 2008, which claims thepriority of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/098,317 filed on Apr. 4,2008, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser.No. 11/828,969 filed on Jul. 26, 2007, which claims the priority of U.S.Provisional Patent Application No. 60/820,363 filed on Jul. 26, 2006 andthis application claims the priority of U.S. patent application Ser. No.12/059,636 filed on Mar. 31, 2008, which is a continuation-in-part ofU.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/828,969; which claims the priorityof U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/820,363 filed on Jul. 26,2006. These applications are incorporated herein by reference in theirentirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates generally to a method and system for managinginformation and more specifically, to tracking information in connectionwith litigation support services.

One application for the current invention is providing online litigationservices, such as managing the designation of exhibits, deponents andother information for one or more cases. Currently, it is most commonfor these services to be provided by secretaries or paralegals viaspreadsheets designed to calculate numbers and perform mathematicaltasks rather than organizational tasks.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A system and method is described for managing litigation services, suchas the designation of exhibits, deponents and other information for oneor more cases.

A better understanding of the objects, advantages, features, propertiesand relationships of the invention will be obtained from the followingdetailed description and accompanying drawings which set forth anillustrative embodiment and which, are indicative of the various ways inwhich the principles of the invention may be employed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

For a better understanding of the invention, reference may be had to thefollowing Figures, which further describe an embodiment of the presentinvention and which include drawings and exemplary screen shotstherefor:

FIG. 1 is a diagram depicting a computer network on which an embodimentof the invention may be operated.

FIG. 2 shows an exemplary login page for use in the present invention.

FIG. 3 shows an exemplary screen shot of a Login Problems window for usewith the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 shows an exemplary screen shot of a Trial Management window foruse with a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 shows an exemplary screen shot of an Add/Edit A Case window foruse with the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 shows an exemplary screen shot of a Delete A Case window for usewith the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 shows an exemplary screen shot of a Current Designations windowfor use with the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 shows an exemplary screen shot of an Add Exhibits window for usewith the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 shows an exemplary screen shot of an Add Deposition window foruse with the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 shows an exemplary screen shot of an Exchange Center window foruse with the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 shows an exemplary screen shot of an Exhibit Number window foruse with the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12 shows an exemplary screen shot of a Deponent Name window for usewith the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 13 shows an exemplary screen shot of a PDF Center window for usewith the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 14 shows an exemplary screen shot of an Upload/Edit window for usewith the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 15 shows an exemplary screen shot of an Upload/Edit window for usewith a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 16 shows an exemplary screen shot of a Plaintiff Designationswindow for use with the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 17 shows an exemplary screen shot of an All Deponents window foruse with an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 18 shows an exemplary screen shot of a Deposition window for usewith an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 19 shows an exemplary screen shot of an Exhibit window for use withan embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 20 shows a private network.

FIG. 21 shows a private network used in connection with multiple cloudcomputing architectures.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Turning now to the Figures, wherein like reference numerals refer tolike elements, there is illustrated a system and method for managingtrial information 60 and generating respective standardized reports 80that can be used for efficiently tracking the status of the trialinformation 60. Although not required, the system and the method will bedescribed in the general context of a computer network 20, as is wellknow in the industry, and computer executable instructions beingexecuted by general purpose computing devices within the computernetwork 20. In this regard, the general purpose computing devices maycomprise one or more remote computers 22 a, and one or more servercomputers 22 b, hosting to a software application 30. The servercomputer 22 b can also include one or more databases 24 for storingtrial information 60. Trial information 60 can include exhibits,deponent names, deponent transcripts, case names or any otherinformation that could be introduced at trial.

To allow each of the remote computers 22 a to access and utilize theinformation management system 10 without storing copies of the softwareapplication 30 on each of those computers 22 a, the software application30 may reside on the server computer 22 b. Further, it is preferablethat users access the software application 30 via an internet browser40, which acts as an interface between the software application 30 andthe operating system for the remote computer 22 a. Although theoperating system for the server computer 22 b is preferably Windows®based, it should be understood that the server computer 22 b couldemploy any one of the currently existing operating systems, such asLINUX®, MAC OS®, Mozilla®, etc. In addition, it should be appreciated bythose with skill in the art that other applications besides the browsermay also be utilized to act as an interface between the softwareapplication 30 and the remote computers 22 a.

For editing, populating and maintaining the databases 24, the browser 40includes a graphical user interface 50. As shown in FIG. 2, thegraphical user interface 50 is further comprised of various menu bars,drop-down menus, buttons and display windows. A detailed description ofthe graphical user interface 50, the menu bars, drop-down menus,exemplary buttons and display windows, along with a brief description ofthe functionality associated with those menus, buttons and windows, isdescribed below and in the accompanying Figures.

As will be appreciated by those of skill in the art, the computers 22 a,22 b need not be limited to personal computers, but may includehand-held devices, multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based orprogrammable consumer electronics, minicomputers, mainframe computers,personal digital assistants, cellular telephones or the like dependingupon their intended end use within the system. For performing theprocedures described hereinafter, the computer executable instructionsmay be written as routines, programs, objects, components, and/or datastructures that perform particular tasks. Within the computer network20, the computer executable instructions may reside on a single computer22 a, or server computer 22 b, or the tasks performed by the computerexecutable instructions may be distributed among a plurality of thecomputers 22 a, 22 b. Therefore, while described in the context of acomputer network, it should also be understood that the presentinvention may be embodied in a stand-alone, general purpose computingdevice that need not be connected to a network.

To efficiently provide users with access to the software application 30,the server computers 22 b and the underlying framework for the computernetwork 20 may be provided by the service company itself or byoutsourcing the hosting of the software application 30 to an applicationservice provider (“ASP”). ASP's are companies that provide servercomputers that store and run a software application for a third partyentity, which is accessible to the third party entity's users via theInternet or similar means. Therefore, the server computer for operatingthe software application may be hosted on a computer that is owned andmaintained by another party and users may then access and use softwareapplications via the host computer without storing the softwareapplication on the remote computers. It should be understood, however,that ASP models are well-known in the industry and should not be viewedas a limitation with respect to the type of system architectures thatare capable of providing a computer network 20 that can properly operatethe software application discussed herein.

To perform the particular tasks in accordance with the computerexecutable instructions, the computers 22 a, 22 b may include, asneeded, a video adapter, a processing unit, a system, memory, an asystem bus that couples the system memory to the processing unit. Thevideo adapter allows the computers 22 a, 22 b to support a display, suchas a cathode ray tube (“CRT”), a liquid crystal display (“LCD”), a flatscreen monitor, a touch screen monitor or similar means for displayingtextual and graphical data to a user. The display allows a user to viewinformation, such as, code, file directories, error logs, execution logsand graphical user interface tools.

The computers 22 a, 22 b may further include read only memory (ROM), ahard disk drive for reading and writing to a hard disk, a magnetic diskdrive for reading from and writing to a magnetic disk, and/or an opticaldisk drive for reading from and writing to a removable optical disk orany other suitable data storage device. The hard disk drive, magneticdisk drive, and optical disk drive may be connected to the system bus bya hard disk drive disk interface, a magnetic disk drive interface, or anoptical disk drive interface, respectively, or other suitable datainterface. The drives and their associated computer-readable mediaprovide a means of non-volatile storage for the computer executableinstructions and any other data structures, program modules, databases,arrays, etc. utilized during the operation of the computers 22 a, 22 b.

To connect the computers 22 a, 22 b within the computer network 20, thecomputers 22 a, 22 b may include a network interface or adapter. Whenused in a wide area network, such as the Internet the computers 22 a, 22b typically include a network interface, such as a router/modem orsimilar device. The modem, which may be internal or external, isconnected to the system bus for the computer via a serial port interfaceor other communication port. It will be appreciated that the describednetwork connections are exemplary and that other means of establishing acommunications link between the computers 22 a, 22 b may be used. Forexample, the system may also include a wireless router/modem thatreceives and transmits information via a wireless communications medium,such as a cellular communications network, a satellite communicationsnetwork, or another similar type of wireless network. It should also beappreciated that the network interface will be capable of employingTCP/IP, FTP, SFTP, Telnet SSH, HTTP, SHTTP, RSH, REXEC, etc. and othernetwork connectivity protocols.

As mentioned above, in one embodiment, the software application 30 anddatabases 24 reside on the server computer 22 b and are managed by theprovider of the software application 30 or by a third-party. Those withskill in the art will understand, however, that the software application30 and databases 24 may reside on the remote computer 22 a and may bemanaged and maintained by a user. The software application 30 anddatabases 24 may also reside on different computers. The graphical userinterface 50 may load web pages via HTTP or HTTPS or any other suitableformat and displays those web pages on the browser 40.

As seen below, system 30 may be employed to store and processelectronically stored litigation data 6010, which may include documents,emails, deposition transcripts, photographs, or other similar types ofevidence that may be used during the litigation of a case. To alleviatethe processing resources necessary to store and process the constantlyand exponentially increasing amount of electronically stored litigationdata 6010 being generated in the field of litigation, the system mayutilize additional computational resources that are available via acloud computing network 6000. The term “cloud computing” refers to theuse of computational resources that are available remotely over a publicnetwork, such as the internet, and that are generally provided at a lowcost and on an hourly basis. Any virtual or physical computer that is inelectronic communication with such a public network could potentially beavailable as a computational resource. To provide computationalresources via the cloud network on a secure basis, computers that accessthe cloud network may employ standard security encryption protocols suchas SSL and PGP, which are well known in the industry.

In this embodiment, the software application 30 and databases 24 mayreside on a computer that is connected to a cloud computing network 6000or the software application 30 and databases 24 may reside on a computerthat forms part of cloud computing network 6000. The cloud computingnetwork 6000 may also be used to process electronically storedlitigation data 6010 that may be required for a trial, litigation,eDiscovery or other evidence management applications as seen below. Insome cases, electronically stored litigation data 6010 associated withdiscovery may comprise several million pages of documents, and can be aslarge as multiple terabytes of information. The ability to use low-costalternatives to traditional computing needs, therefore, may have asignificant impact on reducing the cost and resources necessary toconduct discovery and to conform to federal, state, and internationallegal requirements for maintaining and producing information anddocuments.

As described in detail below, electronically stored litigation data 6010may be converted and/or processed in a variety of different manners. Forexample, the system may perform full-text and meta-data extraction,physical alteration of electronically stored litigation data 6010 (suchas stamping or numbering), indexing of data to create searchableindexes, and maintain corresponding relational database structures. Thisprocessing is extremely demanding of computational resources such ascomputer memory, processing, bandwidth, and storage. Because thisprocessing is a precursor to other eDiscovery and evidence managementtasks, it is critical that it be performed as quickly as possible.However, due to the time constraints that are usually involved, the useof traditional computing resources is cost prohibitive in someinstances.

Those with skill in the art will recognize that different forms ofdistributed processing exist and that other concepts related todistributed processing could also be applied to the present system. Forexample, FIG. 20 depicts a private network 6050, which may include aplurality of web applications 6051, a plurality of primary databasestorage discs 6052 and a plurality of computers 6053, which are linkedtogether via an intranet or similar network. In the embodiment depictedin FIG. 20, the processing and storage of the various electronicallystored litigation data 6010 all takes place on site, and is done viacomputers 6053 that are located on site and connected to the privatenetwork. Therefore, the only way to increase processing speed or storagespace is to increase the number of physical computers 6053 that areconnected to the private network. This is economically inefficient sincethe system provider must maintain a large number of computers that arenot utilized on a regular basis. The use of a cloud computing networkmay help to alleviate the extreme demands placed on traditionalcomputational resources, and dramatically decrease the cost associatedwith processing electronically stored litigation data 6010 as describedabove.

In the embodiment depicted, for example, in FIG. 21, such economic andphysical restrictions are reduced greatly. FIG. 21, depicts a variationof cloud computing architecture 6000, which may comprise privatenetwork, or web host, 6150. Private network 6150 may comprise aplurality of web applications 6151, a plurality of primary data basestorage discs 6152, and a computer or server 6153.

As seen, cloud computing architecture 6000 leverages expandable virtualcomputing cloud 6200 to rapidly provision computational resources asneeded, and release the resources when complete. Specifically, cloudcomputing architecture 6000 creates a plurality of virtual computers6253 to process electronically stored litigation data 6010 as needed.This makes it possible to process extremely large amounts ofelectronically stored litigation data 6010 without the constant overheadof a private network architecture comprising several private computers.By way of example, and in no way limiting, three hypothetical scenariosare stated below to demonstrate the use of cloud computing architecture6000:

Scenario #1: As stated above, each virtual computer 6253 is comprised ofcomputational resources that are connected to a public network, such asthe internet, and are available. In this first scenario, a first serviceprovider owns a first and a second physical server, each of which issimilar to servers 6053 described above. The first and the secondphysical server are each being used by the service provider, but each isonly being used at 60% capacity, leaving 40% of their respectivecapacities unused. Additionally, each physical server is connected to apublic network. A second service provider, who employs a cloud computingarchitecture similar to cloud computing architecture 6000, requires 60%of the capacity of a server similar to the first service provider's twophysical servers, but the second service provider only needs thoseresources for an hour. Cloud computing architecture 6000 may leveragethe unused 40% capacity of the first physical server, and combine itwith ½ of the unused 40% capacity of the second physical server (or 20%of the total capacity) to create a virtual computer 6253 that is usingthe same 60% of the physical servers. In the alternative, cloudcomputing architecture 6000 may leverage and combine ¾ of the unused 40%capacity of each physical server (or 30% of the total capacity apiece)to provide a virtual computer 6253 that is using the same 60% of thephysical servers.

Scenario #2: Cloud computing architecture 6000 may provision a pluralityof virtual computers 6253 in expandable virtual computing cloud 6200 toprocess a first large number of documents as described in detail below.Depending on the type of processing required, the processing may becompleted in about an hour. When completed, cloud computing architecture6000 releases virtual computers 6253 and allows the computationalresources to perform other tasks.

However, if a second customer requires a second large number ofdocuments to be processed while the first large number of documents isstill being processed, cloud computing architecture 6000 may provisionan additional plurality of virtual computers 6253. Such additionalprovision will take a brief amount of time to be manually initialized.In a second embodiment, such initialization may be actuatedautomatically, requiring no manual input. Regardless, in short amount oftime, cloud computing architecture 6000 may begin to process the secondlarge number of documents. To replicate this performance on a privatenetwork, such as network 6050 depicted in FIG. 20, a service providerwould be required to purchase not only the initial plurality of servers,but would either be required to purchase the additional plurality ofservers, or have the additional plurality of servers idling on site.Either scenario introduces an extraordinary cost to the serviceprovider, which must be passed along to the customer.

Scenario #3: A user requests, through web application 6151, that a largenumber of documents, which had previously been entered into the system,be Bates stamped. The manner in which the documents are uploaded ordownloaded is well known, and may include uploading to a web serverthrough a browser by way of SSL. Regardless of how the documents areuploaded, cloud computing architecture 6000 would provision thenecessary number of virtual computers 6253. In order to provision thenecessary number of virtual computers 6253, cloud computing architecture6000 may proceed through the following steps:

1. The host computer sends out a request to a cloud computing networkfor additional computing resources. The additional computing resourcesare defined as either physical servers or virtual servers; each onhaving dedicated computational resources such as hard disk, memory,processor abilities, etc.2. Cloud computing network 6000 replies and indicates the amount ofavailable resources. Cloud computing network 6000 responds with thestatus of each virtual server. Once available, cloud computing network6000 provides an IP address for each virtual server. Cloud computingnetwork 6000 also provides an API for the service provider, in order tolist the currently available servers, and each server's status and IPaddress.3. The cloud computing network provides the necessary network protocolsfor allowing the secure exchange of data between the host computer andthe cloud computing network.4. Each virtual server communicates to the service provider's primary,physical servers by way of a secure web services API.5. The host computer provides processing instructions to the cloudcomputing network. This may be done through a web services API, such asextensible markup language (XML) or other such language.6. The cloud computing network receives the data and directs it to aplurality of virtual computers. In order to accomplish this, the hostcomputer breaks down the electronically stored litigation data 6010 intoits smallest block of information that may be processed at one time,which is determined by the type of processing required, then commandseach virtual server to process the next available block of information.By way of example, if 1,000,000 pages of documents are to be Batesstamped, the smallest block of information is one page. In this manner,the host computer will tell each virtual computer to take the nextavailable page and Bates stamp it. On a different occasion, the smallestblock of information that may be processed is by document, rather thanby page. In this instance, the host computer will tell each virtualserver to process the next available document.7. Once virtual computers 6253 process the large number of documents,they will store the original documents, along with the newly processeddocuments, in storage location 6260. As stated below, storage location6260 may comprise a plurality of physical servers, or may comprise aplurality of virtual servers. Virtual computers 6253 will then indicateon primary database discs 6152 where the newly processed documents arestored. The newly processed documents may be stored in the same fileformat as the original documents as well as a format compatible with theservice provider's web interface.8. The host computer makes the modified data available to the user.

To process the electronically stored litigation data 6010, each virtualcomputer 6253 would publish its application program interface (API) forsecurely receiving authenticated instructions via the internet, andrequest the storage location of the documents from primary database6152. The virtual computers 6253 would then retrieve the documents fromstorage location 6260. In the depicted embodiment, storage location 6260comprises a plurality of virtual servers 6262, however, it will beappreciated by those in the art that storage location 6260 may comprisephysical servers or a combination of physical servers and virtualservers.

It will be appreciated by those in the art that, due to the spacelimitations inherent under systems similar to those depicted in FIG. 20,service providers only process electronically stored litigation data6010 when requested, and only do the processing that is required at thetime. By way of example, a service provider may store a large number ofdocuments for a customer and the customer may ask the service provide tomake the documents keyword searchable by using Optical CharacterRecognition (“OCR”) software to convert the documents into a searchableformat. When a customer requests OCR conversion, the service providermay convert the large number of documents and store both the originaldocuments and the OCR documents in its computers 6053. The process ofconverting a large number of documents to a searchable format requiressignificant processing bandwidth and a great deal of storage space tostore both the original version of the documents and the OCR version ofthe documents. This type of request in addition to the outstandingrequests for other customers may create a large spike in the demand forthe service provider's computational resources, which requires morecomputers to be kept on to hand by the service provider or whichincreases the time required to complete the job request. A large spikein the demand for computational resources may also occur in connectionwith request to bates stamp documents or to change the document formatof documents.

Under the embodiment depicted in FIG. 21, the service provider mayprovision the requisite number of virtual computers to process and storethe documents on a real-time basis or within a predetermined amount oftime. The amount of turnaround time necessary to process the documentsis customizable and may be selected by the customer or the serviceprovider.

For populating the databases 24, data may be loaded directly fromapplication end users or programmatically through command line tools orscripting. While the software application 30 may be programmed in anysoftware language capable of producing the desired functionality, it isenvisioned that the software application 30 will be programmed usingRuby on Rails (commonly referred to as “RoR,” or simply “Rails”).

To edit, populate and maintain the databases 24, the graphical userinterface 50 may allow the user to perform standard text editingfunctions, including, mouse placement of the cursor, click-and-drag textselection and standard Windows® key combinations for cutting, copyingand pasting data. In addition, the graphical user interface 50 may allowusers to access, copy, save, export or send data or files by usingstandard Windows® file transfer functions. It should be understood thatthese editing and file transfer functions may also be accomplishedwithin other operating system environment such as LINUX®, MAC OS®,Mozilla®, etc.

For maintaining the security associated with the software application 30and databases 24, a unique login window 100 may be maintained for eachcompany/user. The login window 100 may also be used to control theaccess privileges for various levels of users. As shown in FIG. 2, eachlogin window 100 may also require a user name and password. For securitypurposes, the user names and passwords may be kept separately for eachcompany that is accessing the software application 30. To gain access tothe software application 30, the user must enter a proper user name inthe user name field 206 and password in the password field 208 and pressthe submit button 204. If the user has forgotten the user name 206, theuser may click on the Forgot User Name link 200 for assistance. If theuser has forgotten the password 208, the user may click on the ForgotPassword link 202.

A. Forgotten User Name or Password

To enable a user to gain access to software application 30 if the userhas forgotten the User Name or Password, a Login Problems window 500 maybe provided. To access the Login Problems window 500, either the ForgotUser Name link 200 or the Forgot Password link 202 may be selected. FIG.3 depicts Login Problems window 500. As shown, Login Problems window 500may include email space 502 and username space 504. In the exemplaryembodiment, the user will have submitted a valid email address prior toreceiving permission to use software application 30. In this way, if auser has forgotten the user name 206, the user may enter the user'semail address in email space 502 and press submit button 506. Softwareapplication 30 will then send an email to the user's email address thatincludes the user name 206.

If the user has forgotten the password 208, the user may enter the username 206 in username space 504 and press submit button 506. Softwareapplication 30 will then search the database for the username, and sendan email that includes the password 208 to the email address that isassociated with the user name 206. To aid a user who has forgotten boththe user name 206 and the password 208, an information panel 508 mayalso be provided in Login Problems window 500. The information panel 508may include contact information for a user support office or a link toadditional information that could assist the user with the loginprocedure.

It should be appreciated that different login procedures may beemployed, which are well know in the industry, on an as-needed basis,including login procedures that employ biometrics, such as fingerprints,retinal scans, etc.

II. All Active Cases/Trial Management (Home Page)

While the system 10 can be used for any application in which it would bedesirable to manage information 60, the following description discussesthe system 10 in the context of providing litigation support services.As shown in FIG. 4, the system 10 may be used to manage more than onecase 210 by allowing the user to access a Trial Management window 110.The Trial Management window 110 may be accessed by entering a valid username 206 and password 208 on the Login window 100 and selecting theSubmit link 204 as described above. The cases 210 that are being managedby the system 10 are listed on the Trial Management window 110 in theActive Cases column 212.

As seen in FIG. 4, for each of the cases 210 being managed by the system10, various information is also shown. For example, a Date Case LastModified column 218 may be provided that includes information about whena specific case 210 was last modified. A Case ID# column 222 may also beprovided that includes a case number 220 for each of the listed cases210. To edit cases 210, each case 210 may include a corresponding Editbutton 224. The Edit buttons 224 are shown in FIG. 4 under the CaseSettings column 226.

A. Adding a Case to the Trial Management Window

To aid the user in adding a case 210 to the system 10, an Add/Edit ACase window 600 may be provided, which can be accessed by selecting addcase link 214 provided in Trial Management window 110. The Add/Edit ACase window 600 may include multiple areas to enter various data orinformation pertinent to a specific case 210. In the embodiment depictedin FIG. 5, a user can enter a Case Name or Case Caption in case namearea 602. A user may also enter a description of the party's name inrepresented area 604, and can identify whether the user is the plaintiffor defendant in plaintiff/defense area 606. As some courts requiredifferent colored cover sheets to differentiate which party issubmitting the documents, a plaintiff color area 608 and defendant colorarea 610 may also be provided in Add/Edit A Case window 600. TheAdd/Edit A Case window 600 may also include email area 612 to enter thevarious emails of the attorneys associated with case 210. Once all ofthe additions are entered, and the user is satisfied with thecompleteness and veracity of the information, the user may add the case210 to information management system 10 by clicking on Submit button616. To return to the Trial Management window 110 without submitting anyof the additions, an All Active Cases link 614 may be selected on theAdd/Edit A Case window 600. Clicking on the All Active Cases link 614will return the user to the Trial Management window 110.

B. Deleting a Case from the Trial Management Window

To aid a user in deleting a specific case 210 from the system 10, aDelete A Case window 700 may be provided, which can be accessed byselecting delete case link 216 provided in Trial Management window 110.The Delete A Case window 700 may include various information used toidentify a specific case 210. In the embodiment depicted in FIG. 6,Delete A Case window 700 includes a list of active cases 210. Eachactive case 210 is a link that will direct the user to the respectivetrial information 60 as described below. Each case 210 has correspondingidentification information 704, such as a last modified identifier 710and Case ID 712. Each case 210 also has a corresponding delete box 702.To delete a particular case 210 from information management system 10, auser may check the delete box 702 that corresponds with the case 210,and press the Submit button 706. If a user wishes to return to the TrialManagement window 110 without submitting any deletions, the All ActiveCases link 708 may be selected. Clicking on the All Active Cases link708 will return the user to the Trial Management window 110.

III. Managing/Editing Specific Cases

To access a specific case 210, the user may click on the case link 210provided, for example, in the Trial Management window 110. As shown inFIG. 7, clicking on a case link 210 allows the user to access varioustrial information 60, such as exhibits 60 a and deponents 60 b and anyother evidentiary material, court filings, transcripts or materialsgenerated in the preparation for and participation in a trial. Exhibits60 a may include items such as court dockets, key dates, contactinformation and service lists, court information, or any otherinformation needed to participate in a trial as would be known to aperson familiar in the art. Deponents 60 b may include fact witnesses,expert witnesses, third party witnesses, etc. Moreover, once the useraccesses a specific case 210, the browser 40 displays variousinformation, links and columns, including the Case Name 242, aNavigation bar 230 and links for various functions, such as Expand Alllink 244, Collapse All link 246, Send To Excel link 248, Send To Printerlink 250 and Send To PDF link 252. It will be appreciated by those inthe art that software application 30 is designed to allow for thedelivery of data in any application that is necessary or desirable forthe user. As such, navigation bar 230 may comprise any number ofadditional “send to” links not specifically detailed above, such as aSend to Email link, Send to Lotus 1-2-3 link, etc. In the depictedembodiment, selecting Expand All link 244 will reveal all data currentlycontained within the relevant fields. Selecting Collapse All link 246simplifies the interface by hiding all data contained within therelevant fields except the top level of data. Selecting Send to Excellink 248 will export the data to a Microsoft® Excel spreadsheet.Selecting Send to Printer link 250 will send the data to the printerspecified by the user's operating system. Selecting Send to PDF link 252will create a pdf file comprised of the data. The .pdf file may displaythe data in a format that is easily read and/or understood by the user(such as graphs, tables, paragraphs or other report-like displays).

For allowing the user to access different functions of the system 10,the Navigation bar 230 includes links to windows for All Active Cases232, Current Designations 234, Exchange Center 236, PDF Center 238 andPlaintiff Designations 240, which will be discussed in a more detailbelow.

A. Current Designation

FIG. 7 depicts a Current Designations window 234, which can be activatedby selecting a Current Designations link 234 a. The status for each ofthe exhibits 60 a and deponents 60 b shown in activity window 60X mayalso be shown. For example, in FIG. 7 the status for each of theexhibits 60 a and deponents 60 b may be either “Exchanged” or “NotExchanged.” In addition, specific deposition excerpts 300 may beidentified for one or more of the deponents 60 b that are listed andselected by the user. The Current Designations window 234 may alsoinclude links for various functions, such as Expand All link 244,Collapse All link 246, Send To Excel link 248, Send To Printer link 250and Send To PDF link 252, each of which is described above.

1. Adding an Exhibit

To add an exhibit 60 a to an existing case 210, an Add Exhibits window800 may be provided, which can be accessed by selecting an Exhibits(add) link 260 a provided in the Current Designations window 234, and isshown in FIG. 7. The Add Exhibits window 800 may include variousinformation used to identify a specific exhibit that the user wishes toadd to the system 10. In the embodiment depicted in FIG. 8, the AddExhibits window 800 includes prefix space 802 and number space 804. Byfilling out prefix space 802, exhibit 60 a will be categorized withother similar types of exhibits. By filling out number space 804,exhibit 60 a will be listed in numerical order within its category. AddExhibits 800 window may also include status information 806, whichdepicts the exchange status of the particular exhibit 60 a. Add Exhibits800 window may also comprise history box 808, which includes informationsuch as when and by whom exhibit 60 a was added to informationmanagement system 10. As users key in or modify data, the date and timeof these modifications will be associated with the particular record. Toaccess the record of these changes, history box 80 also comprisesactivity history link 812, which allows users to view the past activitythat has been logged by application 30. Finally, the Add Exhibits window800 comprises notes space 814, which allows a user to add any additionalinformation that may be pertinent to the exhibit 60 a. Once all of thedesired information is entered by the user, he or she may save theinformation on system 10 by clicking the Save button 816. If the userwishes to send the information to the Exchange Center window 236 b(described below), he or she may click on Send to Exchange Center box818 prior to clicking the Save button 816.

2. Adding a Deposition

To add a deposition 60 b to an existing case 210, an Add Depositionwindow 900 may be provided, which can be accessed by selecting aDeponents (add) link 260 b provided in the Current Designations window234. The Add Deposition window 900 may include various information usedto identify a specific deposition that the user wishes to add toinformation management system 10. In the embodiment depicted in FIG. 9,the Add Deposition window 900 includes a first name space 902, middleinitial space 904 and last name space 906. These spaces 902, 904 and 906allow the user to input the name of the deponent, and better identify aparticular deposition 60 b. The Add Deposition window 900 may alsoinclude volume number box 908, which provides the volume numberassociated with a particular deposition transcript, as well as date box910, which allows the user to input the date on which the deposition wastaken. The Add Deposition window 900 may also include status information912, which depicts the exchange status of the particular deposition 60b. The Add Deposition window 900 may also comprise history box 914,which includes information such as when and by whom deposition 60 b wasadded to information management system 10. History box 914 may alsocomprise activity history link 920, which, like history link 812, allowsusers to view the past activity that has been logged by to application30. Finally, the Add Deponents window 900 comprises notes space 916,which allows a user to add any additional information that may bepertinent to the deposition 60 b. Once all of the desired information isentered by the user, he or she may save the information on the system 10by clicking on Save button 918.

3. Exhibit and Deponent Records

As shown in FIGS. 8 and 11, each of the listed exhibits 60 a ordeponents 60 b may also include an exhibit number 310 or a deponent name312. Moreover, the exhibit number 310 and deponent name 312 may alsoserve as links to additional information. For example, FIGS. 12 and 13show examples of the detailed information that may be associated with aparticular link to an exhibit 60 a or deponent 60 b, respectively.

More specifically, FIG. 11 depicts an Exhibit Number window 320associated with a specific exhibit record 322. The Exhibit Number window320 may be accessed by selecting the exhibit number 310 link. TheExhibit Number window 320 contains an exhibit record 322 for a specificexhibit 60 a and may include information, such as the exhibit number,the status of the exhibit, i.e., “Exchanged” or “Not Exchanged”, whenand by whom the record was last edited, and notes by the user. Forallowing the user to track past activity for a particular exhibit 60 a,the Exhibit Number window 320 may also include a See Activity History328 link. To save the recent changes to the Exhibit Number window 320associated with a particular exhibit 60 a, the Exhibit Number window 320may include a Save link 324. For allowing the user to designate wherethe information for a particular exhibit 60 a is saved or sent, the usermay also select a Destination box 326. The Destination box 326 may causethe exhibit record 322 to be sent to the Exchange Center 236 or otherdestinations that may be defined by the system 10.

FIG. 12 depicts a Deponent Name window 330. The Deponent Name window 330may be accessed by selecting the Deponent Name link 312, as shown inFIG. 7. The Deponent Name window 330 contains information related to adeponent record 332 for a specific deponent 60 b and may includeinformation, such as the deponent name, the volume corresponding to thedeposition transcript that is being referenced and specific referencesto deposition excerpts from the respective deposition transcript. Fordesignating specific deposition excerpts 344 of deposition transcripts,a Partial box 238 may be included. If the Partial box 338 is checked, abox opens and the last several words of the deposition excerpt 344 thatis being designated may be included therein. To delete a depositionexcerpt 344 that has been previously designated, a Delete box 342 may beincluded. If the user checks the Delete box 342, the deposition excerpt344 associated with that box will be deleted. To save the recent changesto the Deponent Name window 330 associated with a particular deponent 60b, the Deponent Name window 330 may include a Save link 334. Forallowing the user to designate where the information for a particulardeponent 60 b is saved or sent, the user may also select a destinationbox 336. The destination box may cause the deponent record 332 to besent to the Exchange Center 236 or other destinations that may bedefined by the system 10.

B. Exchange Center

To track the exchange of exhibits 60 a and deponents 60 b, an ExchangeCenter window 236 b may be provided. To access the Exchange Centerwindow 236 b, the Exchange Center link 236 a may be selected. FIG. 10depicts the Exchange Center window 236 b. As shown in FIG. 10, theExchange Center window 236 b also includes sections 62 that listinformation related to exhibits 60 a, deponents 60 b or other forms oftrial information 60. The section 62 that relates to exhibits 60 a liststhem by exhibit number and the status of the exhibits 60 a, i.e.,“Exchanged” or “Not Exchanged.” In addition, various other informationthat may be pertinent to the relevant exhibit 60 a may also be processedin the Exchange Center window 236 b. For example, specific depositionexcerpts 300 may be identified for one or more of the deponents 60 bthat are listed and selected by the user. The section 62 that relates todeponents 60 b lists them by name and may also include the status of thedeponents 60 b, i.e., “Exchanged” or “Not Exchanged.” The deponents 60 bthat are listed may also be links that when selected, display thedeposition excerpts 344 that are being designated for use at trial.

As will be apparent to those in the art, exchange center is an areawhere designations that are intended to be exchanged may be staged priorto their transfer to the opposing party. The exchange center may alsointegrate into an exchange center for opposing counsel, should bothfirms be using application 30. This allows the user to complete its“current designations”, send the documents to the “exchange center”where the user can confirm that the designations are correct. Onceconfirmed, the user can then transfer the documents to the opposingparty. On the inverse, if the user receives designations from theopposing party, the user may approve the incoming designations in theexchange center—essentially signing off on their receipt—and then theuser may populate the users version of application 30.

The Exchange Center 236 window may also include links for variousfunctions, such as Expand All link 244, Collapse All link 246, Send ToExcel link 248, Send To Printer link 250 and Send To PDF link 252.

C. PDF Center

To assist in the exchange of exhibits 60 a and deponents 60 b, a PDFCenter window 238 may be provided, which may be accessed by selectingthe PDF Center link 238 a. FIG. 13 depicts the PDF Center window 238. Asshown in FIG. 13, the PDF Center window 238 also includes status panelsections 62 that list information related to exhibits 60 a and deponents60 b. The status panel sections 62 may include information about thevolume in which a particular deponent 60 b is located and whether thedeponent 60 b is ASCII loaded. It will be appreciated by those in theart that there are other transcript delivery formats that may beproprietary to court reporters. Some of these are already “synched” withvideo time codes. For example, the transcript file does not have to bean ASCII file, it may also be a word file, html page or a number ofother formats that are capable of being used with application 30.

For storing deposition transcripts and editing the excerpts of thosetranscripts that may be designated for use at trial, the status panelsections 62 may also include an Upload/Edit link 250. SelectingUpload/Edit link 250, for example, may open a separate window, dialoguebox or other mechanism by which the user would select the correct fileon the user's hard drive, network location, or other storage locationwhere the transcript exists. This window, dialogue box or othermechanism may then allow the user to edit the excerpt, and store thenewly edited excerpt. The PDF Center window 238 may also include a linkfor generating PDF copies of the designated excerpts, which may bestored, exported for use by another system, e-mailed or printed by theuser. It should also be understood by those with skill in the art thatother functions may also be included in the PDF Center window 238 orthat other data formats may be employed thereby requiring a differentkind of document to be generated, such as MS Word files (*.doc),WordPerfect files (*.wpd), XML or HTML files, or any word or textprocessing format. The PDF Center window 238 may also include links forvarious functions, such as Expand All 244, Collapse All 246, Send ToExcel 248, Send To Printer 250 and Send To PDF 252, as described above.

As mentioned above, to store or edit deposition transcripts, theUpload/Edit link 250 may be selected. FIG. 14 depicts the Upload/Editwindow 350. As shown in FIG. 14, the Upload/Edit window 350 may includean Upload File link 352, an Insert Page Break link 354 and links tovarious tools, such as Tool 1 356, Tool 2 358, Tool 3 360, Tool 4 362and Save 364. Selecting the Upload File link 353 causes the transcriptfor a particular deponent to be uploaded and stored. As will beappreciated by those in the art, the uploaded transcript can be storedlocally, on external storage devices or media, on remote third-partyservers or, if available, on court-reporting servers. The uploadedtranscript may be stored in any format compatible with or readable byapplication 30. The Insert Page Break link 354 allows the user to formatthe transcript as loaded into application 30 such that the page breaksare consistent with the official transcript. Tool 2 link 358 may beprovided to allow the user to make modifications to the underlyingtranscript file. Tool 3 link 360 may be provided to allow the user tochange the line numbers within the transcript. Tool 4 link 362 may beprovided to allow the user to change other formatting options, such asindentations, as necessary. It will be appreciated that the Tool 1, 2, 3and 4 links can be modified by the user to accomplish most any task, andthe above description is illustrative only. Moreover, it will further beappreciated that these tasks may be completed by software application 30automatically, without input from the user. To save the edited versionof a deposition transcript, the user may select the Save link 364. Ifthe Save link 364 is selected, the edited version of the depositiontranscript will be stored either locally or at a remote server asdescribed above. It should be understood that Upload/Edit window 350 mayalso include other links to various functions that may be required tostore and edit the deposition transcripts for later use or designationby the user.

It will be appreciated by those in the art that deposition transcriptsare originally stored as various types of file formats. Even if thetranscripts are in the same type of file format, they may be arranged ina different layout. The file type, and the organization of the document,may be determined, for example, by the governing court, or the companythat provided the reporting service. By way of example and as statedabove, the deposition transcript of a first witness may be stored as anASCII file, while the deposition transcript of a second witness may bestored as a .doc file, or a .txt file.

As a second example, the deposition of a first witness may be stored asan ASCII file, while the deposition transcript of a second witness isalso be stored as an ASCII file. However, the organization of the twotranscripts may be completely different. For example, the first page ofthe first transcript may include the name of the court, the caption ofthe relevant case and the person being deposed, while the first page ofthe second transcript may include the name of the court, the name of therelevant circuit, the presiding judge, the parties, the file number ofthe case and the date of the deposition. More likely than not, anyinformation that is identical between these two transcripts will not belocated at the same place on the front page. Additionally, the twotranscripts may differ in whether the lines on the page are numbered,the number of lines per page, whether the pages are numbered, etc.

In order accommodate the multiple types of files and layouts in whichtranscripts may be stored, and to make electronic searching and displayof the transcripts more efficient, the present invention includes parser5000. Generally, a user uploads a deposition transcript into system 30,regardless of the file type or layout of the document in which thetranscript is stored. Parser 5000 then parses the transcript andsearches for the location of various identifying or descriptive metadatacontained within the transcript. Once the type and location of thismetadata is determined, parser 5000 stores the information in arelational database 5010. Using this stored information, system 30 caneasily search multiple transcripts, regardless of the type of fileformat or layout it was originally stored in, for various information.By way of example, if 30 deposition transcripts have been uploaded tosystem 30, each transcript comprising the deposition of a differentperson, system 30 can use the information stored in relational database5010 to search for each use of a specific phrase that is important tothe case. Additionally, system 30 can use the information stored inrelational database 5010 to manipulate the uploaded transcriptsaccording to parameters provided by the user. By way of example, system30 can display the transcript either in its native layout or in a layoutthat is uniform for all uploaded transcripts. System 30 could alsodisplay limited segments of the transcript, or any other display that isrequired by the user.

To accomplish this uniform parsing, the user first uploads a depositiontranscript. It will be appreciated by those in the art that multipletranscripts may be uploaded simultaneously. Because parser 5000 requiresno basic information about any deposition transcript to be manuallyinputted into system 30, uploading multiple transcripts simultaneouslygreatly increases the efficiency of both the user and system 30.

Once uploaded, the transcript is analyzed by parser 5000, which extractsand stores various metadata for use in displaying, searching and furtherparsing of the transcript later. Where applicable, the various metadatamay include, but not be limited to: the deponent's first name, thedeponent's last name, the deponent's middle initial, the deponent's namesuffix, the number of volumes into which the deposition was broken down,the date on which the deposition was taken, the maximum number of linesper page, the number of the start page, whether the transcript containspage breaks, whether the transcript has page numbers at the top,alternate page number location, page number alignment (i.e., where theare displayed on the page), line number location, line number alignment,timestamp location, timestamp alignment, etc. Detailed explanations ofsome of these steps follow.

Find page breaks—this is relatively self-explanatory. Parser 5000reviews the metadata attached to each deposition transcript anddetermines if the transcript includes any page breaks, and if so, theposition of those page breaks.

Find deponent name—again, this is relatively self-explanatory. Parser5000 reviews the metadata, and searches several different patterns forname recognition on the cover page of the transcript. Patterns maydiffer for each meta-value, but, by way of example, for names, parser5000 may employ various text parsers that may comb the first page forthe words “name” or “deponent,” and find nearby text that match typicalname patterns such as ‘John A. Doe’ or ‘Doe, John A.’. Multiple andvarious filters may be employed, each searching for common variances,such as ‘Von Der Ohe,’ ‘O'Smith,’ etc.

Find date—again, parser 5000 searches the cover page and compares theinformation there with several patterns for date recognition that areprogrammed into parser 5000, such as Jan. 1, 2008, 01/01/2008, 1 Jan.2008, etc.

Find volume—often, transcripts are rather lengthy, and must be brokeninto multiple volumes. Parser 5000 may search the transcript, or justthe first page, and compare the information found with several patternsfor volume recognition that are programmed into parser 5000. By way ofexample, parser 5000 may search for ‘volume’ and related numberfollowing multiple well known and often used patterns in transcriptformats.

Analyze lines—in this step, parser 5000 will parse through a set numberof lines in the beginning of the transcript, a set number of lines inthe middle of the transcript and a set number of lines at the end of thetranscript, searching for consistency or patterns in attribute locationsand alignments. By way of example, parser 5000 may parse through thefirst 1,000 lines of text, the middle 1,000 lines of text and the last1,000 lines of text in a transcript that contains over 5,000 lines oftext. In this manner, parser 5000 will decipher the layout of atranscript and store the metadata accordingly. Understanding the layoutof a transcript will for easy searching and manipulation by the user ata latter date.

By way of example, and in no way limiting, if the phrase “a man wasstanding on the corner of the intersection” was said during adeposition, a typical parsing program could not find that phrase if “aman was standing” was on one line, while “on the corner of theintersection” was the subsequent line. The reason for this is because atypical deposition transcript may look like this:

21 12:04:32 . . . text text text text a man was standing 22 12:04:35 onthe corner of the intersection . . .

Typically, traditional text parsing mechanisms begin at the first lineof a document and continue line by line until the end of the file. Assuch, a typical parsing program will read line 21 to 22 as “a man wasstanding line break line number time stamp tab on the corner of theintersection.” As seen, a typical parsing program will not differentiatethe important text “a man was standing” and “on the corner of theintersection” from the metadata present, “line break line number timestamp tab.”

By analyzing these same lines, parser 5000 will, in contrast, determinethat “line break,” “line number” “date stamp” and “tab” are not textualcharacters but rather metadata used to determine the layout of thetranscript, thus allowing system 30 to search the text of the documentsfor phrases that span multiple lines by ignoring or removing metadatainformation from the text.

It will be appreciated by those in the art that the scope of the presentinvention includes the use of multiple methods to analyze the lines. Byway of example, in looking for consistency in attribute locations andalignments, parser 5000 may parse the first 1,000 lines, skip the next500 lines, then parse 1,000 lines, then skip 500 lines, etc.

Determine page numbering scheme—using the line analysis from above,parser 5000 may parse the beginning of transcript and determine whereand how the pages are numbered.

Find start page number—by determining the page numbering scheme, parser5000 finds the beginning page number. As will be appreciated by those inthe art, the beginning page number is often page 1. However, intranscripts that have multiple volumes, the volumes after volume 1typically do not begin on page one.

Once parser 5000 analyzes the original transcript looking for any or allof the above metadata, or any other such identifying criteria that theuser requires, the type of metadata found, and the location of themetadata, is stored in relational database 5010. Because database 5010contains all of the pertinent information from the original transcript,but now stores that information in an uniform and easily-read format,parser 5000 may now employ any traditional text parsing mechanism toextract the metadata and page/line data from database 5010.

Because the pertinent information is stored in relational database 5010,a user can input search criteria, and the relevant information andtranscript text can be displayed, regardless of the file format, orlayout, of the original transcript.

A second embodiment of software application 30 is seen in FIG. 15, inwhich an Upload/Edit window 350A is provided to allow a user to easilyselect and transfer components of a transcript. As depicted, Upload/Editwindow 350A comprises transcript window 352A, which depicts variousportions of a transcript. Should the user require certain portions ofthe transcript to be copied, the user can highlight those portions,through transcript window 352A. Once highlighted, the user can click theAdd Designation button 370A in order to copy and transfer the designatedportions of the transcript.

The Upload/Edit window 350A further comprises an Add Designation window372A. The Add Designation window 372A comprises beginning page field374A, beginning line field 375A, end page field 376A and end line field377A. If the user knows the beginning and ending pages and lines thatthe user wishes to designate, the user may add the information in fields374A through 377A, rather than highlighting the portions in window 352A.Once the desired portions are designated, the user can click the AddDesignation button 370A in order to transfer the designated portions.

D. Plaintiff Designations

To assist in the designation of specific excerpts of a depositiontranscript for use at trial by various parties to the litigation, aPlaintiff Designations window 240 may be provided, which can be accessedby selecting the Plaintiff Designations link 240 a. FIG. 16 depicts thePlaintiff Designations window 240. It should also be evident to thosewith skill in the art that similar windows may also be included forother parties, such as co-plaintiffs and co-defendants. As shown in FIG.16, the Plaintiff Designations window 240 may also include status panelsections 62 that include information related to exhibits 60 a anddeponents 60 b. Similar to the Current Designations 234 window, thePlaintiff Designations 240 window may display the exhibits 60 a byexhibit numbers and the deponents 60 b by deponent name. The deponentname may also act as a link to the specific deposition excerpts 344 fromthe deponents transcript, which are being designated for trial. ThePlaintiff Designations 240 window may also include links for variousfunctions, such as Expand All 244, Collapse All 246, Send To Excel 248,Send To Printer 250 and Send To PDF 252, as described above.

E. Designations Management

A further embodiment of the present invention is depicted in Figures Ato C. As seen in FIG. 17, to assist a user in uploading and preparing adeposition transcript for trial, an All Deponents window 1000, a NewDeponent window 1010 and a Current Labels window 1020 may be provided.To allow a user to create a new deponent, a First Name field 1012, aLast Name field 1014 and a Middle Initial field 1016 may be providedwithin the New Deponent window 1010. Once fields 1012, 1014 and 1016 arepopulated with the appropriate information, the user may click on aCreate link 1018, which will create a deponent, and add a new DeponentName 1002 to the All Deponents window 1000.

Like the previous embodiments discussed above, to allow a user to uploada deposition transcript associated with a Deponent Name 1002, the AddVolume link 1004 may be provided for each Deponent Name 1002. Afterclicking on the Add Volume link 1004, an Upload/Edit window (not shown)will open that depicts one or more portions of a deposition transcript.Should the user require certain portions of the transcript to beuploaded, the user can highlight those portions. Once highlighted, theuser can click the Add Designation button (not shown) in order to copyand transfer the designated portions to application 30.

The Upload/Edit window (not shown) may further comprise an area foradding a designation. As an alternative to highlighting the desiredportions of the deposition transcript, if the user knows the beginningand ending pages and lines that the user wishes to designate, the usermay add the information in fields provided in the Upload/Edit window(not shown). Once the desired portions are designated, the user mayupload the designated portions to the respective Deponent Name 1002.

As is well known in the art, deposition transcripts may be stored in avariety of different document formats, such as: .doc files; .pdf files,ASCII files, etc. As also known in the art, there are a variety of ASCIIfile types that may be used to store deposition transcripts. As such,system 10 may be provided with a module that includes a parser program.When a deposition transcript is uploaded, the parser program compilesthe deposition transcript and converts it to a standard format. In thismanner, regardless of in which format, or which variety of ASCII file,the deposition transcript was originally stored, system 10 will displayeach deposition transcript associated with each Deponent Name 1002uniformly, and allow the user to edit (as discussed below) thedeposition transcript as needed.

Once a deposition transcript has been uploaded, Volume Indicators 1006may appear under the respective Deponent Name 1002. In this manner, theuser will be able to upload, view and edit multiple depositiontranscripts associated with each Deponent Name 1002.

For allowing users to select, designate or otherwise set apart specificportions of a deposition transcript, system 10 allows the user to edit adeposition transcript as needed. For example, an edit link 1008 may beprovided under each respective Volume Indicator 1006 that allows theuser to designate, highlight or otherwise edit certain portions of adeposition transcript, as well as synchronize a video deposition withits written portion. Therefore, clicking on the edit link 1008 will openDeposition window 2000, which includes links and buttons for performingthe various functions mentioned above.

As stated above, system 10 allows a user to make multiple designationsrelated to the same portion or portions of a deposition transcript. Inorder to easily determine which designations have been assigned to aportion of a deposition of a transcript, Current Labels window 1020 maybe provided. As seen in FIG. 17, various color codes 1022 may be used.Each color code 1022 may be associated by the user with a variousdesignation 1024.

In order to delineate which color code 1022 is associated with whichdesignation 1024, and edit link 1026 may be provided in the CurrentLabels window 1020. Once the user clicks the edit link 1026, a LabelSection window (not shown) will open. The Label Section window (notshown) may display a list of color codes, hatching symbols or otherindicators 1022, and associated blank fields. By populating each blankfield with a designation or other various appropriate information, theuser can associate each color code 1022 with a specific designation. Asdiscussed in detail below, in this manner the user may designate aspecific portion of deposition transcript in any manner, such as byparty, by action, by topic, etc.

If a specific portion of a deposition transcript is somehow designated,a color code 1022 may appear next to the Volume Indicator 1006 in AllDeponents window 1000. In this manner, a user will quickly be able todetermine whether a specific deposition transcript associated with aVolume Indicator 1006 has been designated, and if so, how the transcripthas been designated and by whom, without having to open and review eachtranscript.

As is known in the art, depositions may be recorded, among other media,via video. If this is the case, the system 10 allows the user tosynchronize the video recording of the deposition with the writtentranscript.

As seen in FIG. 18, and as discussed above, a Deposition window 2000 maybe provided with system 10. Deposition window 2000 may include an AddDesignation window 2030, which will allow a user to select and designatea specific portion of a deposition transcript. Once the specific portionis selected, the selected text portion may be displayed in Text window2010. In this way, the user can confirm that the correct depositionportion has been selected.

Once the user confirms that the correct deposition portion has beenselected, the user may chose the specific designation to be associatedwith the selected portion via drop-down menu 2032. Designations 2034displayed in drop-down menu 2032, from which the user can chose, may bethe same as the designations with which the user populated blank fieldsin Label Section window as described above. Once the user has selectedthe appropriate designation 2034, the user may click Add Designationlink 2036 to associate the chosen designation 2034 with the selecteddeposition portion.

Deposition window 2000 may also include a Video window 2020. Once aportion of the deposition is selected in Add Designation window 2030, ifa video deposition was taken, system 10 may display the video portion ofthe deposition in Video window 2020, and may do so in addition to, or inlieu of, the written portion of the deposition displayed in Text window2010. As is known in the art, video depositions may be stored in anynumber of known formats, such as .wmv, .mp4, mpeg, .swf, etc. However,system 10 will display all video depositions in a uniform manner,regardless of the format in which the video deposition was originallystored.

As seen in FIG. 19, system 10 further allows a user to store, recall,manipulate and display various exhibits 3002. As will be known in theart, these exhibits 3002 may be associated with a deposition transcript,but they need not be, and may stand alone or be otherwise associatedwith the trial. Window 3000 also includes an Exhibit Window link 3008.If the user selects the Exhibit link, a list of Exhibits 3002 will bedisplayed. As seen in FIG. 19, selecting a specific exhibit 3002 willopen Exhibit window 3000, in which is displayed an exhibit 3002.

As is well known in the art, certain portions of such exhibits 3002 maybe more important than others. To help a user emphasize these moreimportant sections, the user may mouse over exhibit 3002, and box theimportant portions. When the important portions are selected, theportion will be displayed in enlargement box 3004, which will appearembedded in Exhibit window 3000. To allow a user to further emphasizespecific portions of the important sections, enlargement box 3004 willallow a user to highlight specific portions of the text by clicking onthe desired text with a mouse. It will be appreciated by those in theart that the scope of the present invention includes any known means ofhighlighting the specific portions of the text, including, but notlimited to, underlining, italicizing, changing the color of the font,holding, etc.

While specific embodiments of the present invention have been describedin detail, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art thatvarious modifications and alternatives to those details could bedeveloped in light of the overall teachings of the disclosure. Forexample, the processes described with respect to computer executableinstructions can be performed in hardware or software without departingfrom the spirit of the invention. Furthermore, the order of all stepsdisclosed in the figures and discussed above has been provided forexemplary purposes only. Therefore, it should be understood by thoseskilled in the art that these steps may be rearranged and alteredwithout departing from the spirit of the present invention. In addition,it is to be understood that all patents discussed in this document areto be incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. Accordingly,the particular arrangement disclosed is meant to be illustrative onlyand not limiting as to the scope of the invention which is to be giventhe full breadth of the appended claims and any equivalents thereof.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system for information management comprising:at least one processor and a computer readable medium comprisingcomputer-executable instructions, wherein execution of saidcomputer-executable instructions by said at least one processor causessaid at least one processor to execute steps comprising: obtaining trialinformation comprising at least one transcript in an original documentformat; converting said at least one transcript to a standard format,wherein said converting comprises parsing textual data; providing agraphical user interface over a network to a user for editing said atleast one transcript uniformly based on said standard format, whereinsaid editing comprises allowing said user to designate at least oneportion of said at least one transcript; accepting at least onedesignation entered by said user; and transferring said at least onedesignation to a recipient.
 2. The system for information management ofclaim 1, wherein said at least one transcript comprises a depositiontranscript.
 3. The system for information management of claim 1, whereinconverting said at least one transcript to said standard formatcomprises analyzing lines of said at least one transcript todifferentiate non-textual characters from textual data in said standardformat.
 4. The system for information management of claim 3, whereinsaid non-textual characters comprise line breaks and line numbers. 5.The system for information management of claim 1, wherein said standardformat comprises continuous text parsed from multiple lines withnon-textual characters removed.
 6. The system for information managementof claim 5, wherein said graphical user interface enables said user tosearch multiple transcripts in said standard format.
 7. The system forinformation management of claim 1, wherein said steps further comprisetransferring said at least one transcript in said standard format,wherein said at least one designation is associated with a portion ofsaid at least one transcript in said standard format.
 8. The system forinformation management of claim 1, further comprising transferring saidat least one transcript in said original document format, wherein saidat least one designation is associated with a portion of said at leastone transcript in said original document format.
 9. The system forinformation management of claim 1, wherein said trial informationfurther comprises at least one video deposition and said steps furthercomprise synchronizing said at least one designation with a portion ofsaid at least one video deposition.
 10. The system for informationmanagement of claim 1, wherein said graphical user interface is providedvia a browser.
 11. The system for information management of claim 1,wherein said recipient comprises a second user authorized to view saidat least one transcript and said at least one designation through saidgraphical user interface.
 12. The system for information management ofclaim 1, wherein said recipient comprises a second user authorized toedit and add at least one additional designation to said at least onedesignation through said graphical user interface.
 13. The system forinformation management of claim 1, wherein said recipient comprises asecond user, wherein said steps further comprise providing a userinterface to said second user to confirm said at least one designation.14. The system for information management of claim 1, wherein saidrecipient comprises an opposing party.
 15. The system for informationmanagement of claim 14, wherein said steps further comprise updating astatus of said at least one designation to indicate that said at leastone designation is exchanged with said opposing party.
 16. The systemfor information management of claim 1, wherein said steps furthercomprise: receiving at least one opposing designation from an opposingparty; optionally receiving at least one opposing transcript from saidopposing party; optionally converting said at least one opposingtranscript to said standard format; and storing said at least oneopposing designation.
 17. The system for information management of claim1, wherein said trial information further comprises at least oneexhibit.
 18. The system for information management of claim 17, whereinsaid graphical user interface is enabled to allow said user to associatesaid at least one exhibit with said at least one transcript.
 19. Thesystem for information management of claim 17, wherein said graphicaluser interface is enabled to allow said user to associate said at leastone exhibit with said at least one designation.
 20. The system forinformation management of claim 17, wherein said at least one processorresides on a cloud computing network.